The Best Horror Movies On Netflix Right Now
Last Updated: September 17th
There’s nothing better than bingeing some good scary movies on Netflix on a dark, stormy night. From ghosts to vampires and zombies just about every morbid fantasy that your demented mind can conjure has representation. We’ve watched the best horror movies on Netflix streaming right now, and here they are, in their beastly, blood-curdling glory. It’s perfect for that late night movie binge to keep you wide awake all the way through 2019.
Related: The Best Horror Movies On Amazon Prime Right Now
Carrie (1976)
Run Time: 98 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Sissy Spacek’s blood-drenched teen horror flick made high school seem even more terrifying when it landed in theaters in the late ‘70s. The film follows a young girl suffering under the abuse of her religiously-devout mother and being bullied by the more popular kids at school. She has some embarrassing moments — getting her period during swim class — and some tension-filled fights with her mother that begin to unleash her supernatural abilities. Good ol’ mom thinks they’re powers given by the Devil himself, but Carrie decides to use them to exact her vengeance, and it’s as gruesome as you’d hope.
The Perfection (2018)
Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 6.1/10
Allison Williams, who’s become something of a scream queen after her work in Get Out, continues her horror track record with this thriller about a gifted musician who befriends the talented student who replaced her. Strange happenings begin to occur, events that sabotage the young girl, but as terrifying as this story is, there’s absolutely no way you’ll be able to predict its ending.
Gremlins (1984)
Run Time: 106 min | IMDb: 7.3/10
This ’80s horror comedy from Joe Dante follows the story of a kid named Billy who receives a magical creature named a mogwai as a pet. When the boy breaks the rules while caring for the pet, he inadvertently causes the creature to spawn smaller, evil monsters that are intent on destroying the world. It’s a classic that’s a bit graphic, considering the main villains are live-action Furbies and there’s nothing scarier than kids with weird-a** pets.
Rampant (2018)
Run Time: 121 min | IMDb: 6.3/10
This South Korean period zombie flick is just weird and gory enough to stick with you long past its end credits. The basic premise follows a clash between an exiled prince and a minister of war set to the backdrop of a zombie plague, but the horror elements spring up while zombie hordes attack villages and during creepier, nerve-wracking moments between its main characters.
Scream (1996)
Run Time: 111 min | IMDb: 7.2/10
This totally ’90s slash-fest has become a cult classic decades after it first landed in theatres. It’s spawned sequels and TV shows and plenty of comedy sketches and internet memes, but if you actually sit down to watch this thing, you’re bound to have night terrors. That’s because the plot, which follows teens in a small town terrorized by a masked murderer who enjoys taunting them before hanging their entrails in backyard trees, capitalizes on our worst fear: that nowhere is safe, not even your own home.
Murder Party (2007)
Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 6.1/10
Jeremy Saulnier is someone who knows how to make a story of thrilling and brutal violence. Director of Blue Ruin and Green Room, he manages to make his stories gripping and tense with slight touches of offbeat humor. Well, for his first feature, that offbeat humor is just as extreme as the violence. An awkward guy finds an invite to a random Halloween party and decides to attend, unbeknownst to him that he’ll be the murdered main attraction for a group of eccentric artists. It’s a slow build toward its inevitably over-the-top and bloody conclusion, but it’s a fun ride for a low-budget gory comedy.
Cloverfield (2008)
Run Time: 85 min | IMDb: 7.0/10
Disappointing Netflix sequel aside, the original installment in J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield trilogy remains one of the greatest works of found-footage in the history of film. Most of that is because the narrative style lends itself to the tension, chaos, and horror of fleeing a monster destroying New York City. The film follows a group of friends caught in the bedlam after a Godzilla-like creature begins attacking the Big Apple. While trying to save each other and make it out of the city before bombs drop, the friends document their journey. The directing by Matt Reeves is superb, almost too good, because you often feel a part of the action, for better and worse.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Run Time: 107 min | IMDb: 8.1/10
Hijinks-y teen movies and all, 1999 was an impressive year for movies. Magnolia, Fight Club, The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, The Matrix… The list goes on and on. Among those entries is M. Night Shyamalan’s first big release, and one of his best (behind Unbreakable, of course). This was a simpler time, before seeing his name in trailers garnered skepticism. Centered on a boy who can’t separate the dead from the living and his child psychologist with issues of his own, The Sixth Sense remains one of four horror movies to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s endlessly tense, driven by strong performances from the two leads over jump scares. It’s held up well, even if it’s established a tough hurdle for the director’s future efforts to clear.
The Conjuring (2014)
Run Time: 112 min | IMDb: 7.5/10
The Conjuring marks the first installment in a horror series that sees Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga playing a married pair of paranormal investigators who seek to understand the phenomenon of hauntings. When the duo is called to assist a family living in a ghostly farmhouse in Rhode Island, they encounter more than they can handle when it comes to the undead. Again, these stories were based on true events, so watch at your own risk.
Horns (2013)
Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 6.5/10
This dark fantasy film starring Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple imagines a nightmare scenario. Radcliffe plays Ig, a young man whose girlfriend Merrin (Temple) mysteriously dies. The morning after her death, Ig wakes up with a set of horns that seem to grow as time goes on. It’s a story tinged with horror elements and a surprising twist at the end.
Green Room (2015)
Run Time: 95 min | IMDb: 7/10
When a punk rock group accidentally witnesses the aftermath of a murder, they are forced to fight for their lives by the owner of a Nazi bar (Patrick Stewart) and his team. It’s an extremely brutal and violent story, much like the first two features from director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin and Murder Party), but this one is made even tenser by its claustrophobic cat-and-cornered-mouse nature. Once the impending danger kicks in, it doesn’t let up until the very end, driven heavily by Stewart playing against type as a harsh, unforgiving, violent character.
The Witch (2016)
Run Time: 92 min | IMDb: 6.8/10
Robert Eggers’ Sundance hit attracted some of the oddest complaints directed at any film in recent years when some disgruntled audience members suggested it wasn’t scary enough. Maybe they were watching a different movie? Set in colonial New England, the austere film follows a family outcast from their strict religious community and trying to make it on their own at the edge of some deep, dark woods. It essentially takes the witch-fearing folklore of the era at face value, watching the family disintegrate under the insidious influence of a nearby witch. It’s a slow-burn horror movie, light on shocks, heavy on unease, and thematically rich in ways that only become apparent later.
Insidious (2010)
Run Time: 103 min | IMDb: 6.9/10
Patrick Wilson stars in another horror flick on this list, this time as the father of a little boy trapped in a coma who’s been possessed by evil spirits. Rose Byrne plays his wife, and while the story itself is a bit muddled, the premise is solid nightmare fuel. Really, is there anything more terrifying than a demon child?
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2010)
Run Time: 88 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
This indie comedy has quickly become a cult classic, turning familiar scary movie tropes on their heads in bloody and hilarious ways. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine star as two bumbling-yet-well-meaning hillbillies who get pulled into a nightmare scenario when a group of horny coeds think they’re trying to kill them. In a series of events that escalates in violence, Tucker and Dale try to do the right thing while managing to stay alive in the process. As one of the best horror comedies, it’s a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by those looking for off-the-beaten-path hilarity.
Shutter (2004)
Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 7.1/10
This Thai horror film follows a young man named Tun and his girlfriend, Jane, who accidentally run over a young woman after a party and are haunted by her spirit. Hauntings and horror go hand-in-hand, but this film digs deeper into the supernatural trope by revealing a surprising, gruesome connection between the woman’s ghost and the film’s protagonist. We won’t spoil anything here, but let’s just say there’s a reason this death follows this guy wherever he goes.
Scream 4 (2011)
Run Time: 111 min | IMDb: 6.1/10
Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox return for the fourth installment in this horror franchise that picks up ten years post-killings as Sydney Prescott tries to put her life back together. It’s going pretty well: she’s writing a book and sleeping at night, but when the Ghostface Killer contacts her, things go to hell pretty quickly. A line-up of fresh faces including Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, Emma Roberts, and Britt Robertson join the cast, playing unfortunate victims of the murderous villain who just refuses to let this grudge die.
Hush (2016)
Run Time: 81 min | IMDb: 6.6/10
Mike Flanagan, who directed Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil, expertly directs this simple tale of a deaf woman being menaced by a masked (and later unmasked) killer in her remote home. This is nothing you haven’t seen before, but Flanagan brings real panache and visual energy to a film that could have easily felt redundant in the hands of a lesser filmmaker.
The Nightmare (2015)
Run Time: 91 min | IMDb: 5.8/10
One of the scariest movies on this list also happens to be a documentary, albeit one that aims to frighten audiences in the way of a typical narrative horror film. Director Rodney Ascher’s (Room 237) rumination on the terrifying phenomenon known as sleep paralysis plays like a more artful and particularly unnerving episode of Unsolved Mysteries, but what makes it even scarier is that everything described by the film’s subjects happened in their own tortured minds.
The Ritual (2017)
Run Time: 94 min | IMDb: 6.3/10
This Netflix nightmare follows a group of friends who venture into the Scandinavian wilderness in order to honor their recently-murdered brother. The guys, Luke (Rafe Spall), Phil (Arsher Ali), Hutch (Robert James-Collier), and Dom (Sam Troughton) are forced to take a different path from the one planned, a mistake that leads them to cults and sacrificial offerings and an ancient being who prefers to stake its prey. The scenery is gorgeous, the chemistry of the cast is spot on, and the premise — how these men confront their fears and failures thanks to a supernatural being — starts out promising, though it could’ve delivered a better ending.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Run Time: 103 min | IMDb: 6.7/10
Stephen King’s 1992 novel transpires mostly in one isolated lake house’s bedroom where its protagonist, Jessie, lies bound to a bed after her husband dies in the midst of a sex game. That makes it a tough story to film, which may explain why it took 25 years to get turned into a movie. But the wait was worth it: director Mike Flanagan delivers a resourceful, disturbing adaptation anchored by a great Carla Gugino performance (with some fine supporting work from Bruce Greenwood). Forced to find a way out of her situation, while confronting her own past, Gugino’s Jessie is made to go to extremes, which leads to, among other things, one of the squirmiest scenes in recent memory.
Under the Shadow (2016)
Run Time: 84 min | IMDb: 6.9/10
This Iranian horror flick manages to tie in relevant world events with a darker story of demonic possession. The film follows Shideh, a former medical student and mother trapped in her home during the bombings of Tehran with her daughter, Dorsa. The pair are soon haunted by a djinn, a malevolent spirit who can possess a human by taking what’s most important to them. For Dorsa, it’s her doll, for Shideh, it’s a medical textbook her dead mother gave her. The two fight to survive the bombs and this evil spirit, and you’ll be fighting to get to sleep after the nightmares from this one begin
Veronica (2017)
Run Time: 105 min | IMDb: 6.2/10
After losing her father, young Veronica (Sandra Escacena) and two classmates attempt to contact the other side with a Ouija board during a solar eclipse. Something more sinister breaks through, though, as Veronica is haunted by a dark presence everywhere she goes. Even though it has just been released in 2018, it’s already been called one of the scariest movies ever made. While that is certainly open for debate, what Veronica does do is excel phenomenally in the cliche horror bits every viewer has seen a thousand times over, such as mishandled Ouija use, frightening entities that only the protagonist is privy to, and twisted dreams. Based on a true story, the film relies on the strong performance of newcomer Escacena, highlighted by her haunting expressions of terror and anguish.
Life After Beth (1996)
Run Time: 89 min | IMDb: 5.6/10
Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan star in this horror comedy about a guy named Zach, who’s mourning the loss of his girlfriend, only to discover she’s come back to life. Plaza stars as Beth, the dead girl revived, who begins exhibiting strange behavior, eventually going into full-blown zombie mode while her devoted boyfriend Zach (DeHaan) tries to manage her mood swings and her pesky craving for human flesh. John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon play Beth’s parents, who hilariously try to cover-up their daughter’s current undead state, and though things go off the rails in the final act, watching Plaza play a moody, angst-ridden walking corpse is one hell of a good time, even if it does give you nightmares.
Creep (2014)
Run Time: 82 min | IMDb: 6.3/10
One of the better found-footage movies to come down the pike in Paranormal Activity‘s wake is this creepy gem about a videographer (director Patrick Brice) who answers a strange Craigslist ad from a man (Mark Duplass) who requests to be followed around with a camera for 24 hours. There are a few points late in the narrative where suspension of disbelief becomes an issue (a not-atypical problem for the genre), but if you can look past that, you’ll be treated to a very scary turn by Duplass and a supremely-unnerving epilogue.
Creep 2 (2017)
Run Time: 80 min | IMDb: 6.4/10
(Spoilers for Creep:) What could have very well been a stand-alone character exploration in 2014’s Creep is heightened in Creep 2, which sees Mark Duplass’ chameleon-like killer seeking a different kind of self-portrait. Burned out on his string of murders, Aaron reaches out to a woman who’s looking for her own kind of story by meeting and filming the lonely people she meets online. Instead of a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing path the killer normally follows, he tells the woman what he is off-the-bat and what he wants: An ending to his journey. With all his cards (seemingly) on the table — and her hiding some of her own — it’s an even more fascinating tale than the original.
Train To Busan (2016)
Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 7.5/10
Zombie movies have been done to death, brought back to life, and repeated a few more times. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t entertaining stories to be found in the genre. Train To Busan doesn’t bring anything exceptionally original to the walking undead, but it’s no less of a thrilling ride. An overworked dad is riding the rails with his neglected daughter when a Z-word outbreak strikes, causing savagery from corpse and living alike. Its fast-moving, contorted foes are genuinely freaky in the movie’s cramped setting, making the story feel like a zombified Snowpiercer. It’s a fun action flick with a slightly heavy-handed but solid emotional core that’s unsurprisingly getting an English remake.
The Invitation (2016)
Run Time: 100 min | IMDb: 6.7/10
After back-to-back big studio bombs, Karyn Kusama returned to her scrappy indie roots with this contained, brilliantly suspenseful study of the darkness that can arise when people don’t allow themselves to feel. The Invitation isn’t a perfect film, but Kusama does a lot with the scant resources she had to play with here, and you have to appreciate her willingness to tackle grief so directly in a genre that tends to have little time for genuine human emotion.
The Bar (2017)
Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 6.4/10
A varied group of people is stuck in a bar after a man is gunned down outside. As the paranoia spreads and they turn on one another, they discover a mysterious sickness could be the culprit. It’s a bottle-type plot that has been done before — locking a bunch of frenzied folks in a cage and let instincts take their course — but this Spanish horror comedy injects its own dark humor and keeps the answers to a minimum, making an entertaining story that unfortunately favors the “dark” over the “comedy” in its final act.
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Run Time: 113 min | IMDb: 5.7/10
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a vapid L.A. art critic named Morf Vandewalt in Dan Gilroy’s supernatural thriller about a collection of high-end paintings that begin tormenting their owners. Gyllenhaal gives a deliciously weird, over-the-top performance as Morf, a guy who investigates the horrible deaths of people who recently bought paintings from an unknown artist who may have imbibed them with some kind of evil spirit via his own blood. Those spirits take hold of anyone who stares too long at the portraits. It’s a sick, twisted commentary on greed and capitalism in America that’s bonkers enough to convince you to avoid art galleries for the rest of your life.
Apostle (2018)
Run Time: 130 min | IMDb: 6.3/10
A man (Legion‘s Dan Stevens) travels to an island to infiltrate a brutal cult in the hopes of saving his kidnapped sister. As the group’s leaders close in on discovering his identity, the dark secrets of the island start to present themselves. Written and directed by The Raid: Redemption director Gareth Evans, Apostle is a tense, beautifully shot thriller that doesn’t even seem like a horror film from the get-go. Stevens provides another icy, powerful performance alongside Michael Sheen’s turn as the leader of the harsh cult. It’s certainly a highlight among the Netflix original films.
Recent Changes Through September 2019:
Removed: As Above, So Below
Added: Scream 4